Amazon Kindle free 3G – "free" as in $2 more

It turns out that when Amazon says international Kindle users get free 3G for their 3G enabled Kindles, they really mean international customers pay an extra $2 for their books.

I just read a post on Download Squad that points out a $2 discrepancy between Canadian (and presumably US) pricing and international pricing.

Since I’m so anxious to start using it, I decided to get a head start on building up my electronic library. I decided to start with the classics – for example, Moby Dick. Yes, I know it’s available for free online, but this edition is typeset for the Kindle so I figured it must be worth the modest sum Amazon asks for it ($2.95, as you see in the screenshot above).

When I sent the link to my friend, who has an Amazon account with a Canadian billing address, we were amazed to discover that Amazon list the same exact item at $0.95 when she’s looking at it.

This charge is apparently a markup for roaming charges and these charges will apply regardless of whether your Kindle is 3G enabled or not. I suspect it will apply regardless of whether you are even using a Kindle because the pricing appears to be based on billing address than anything else. Not nice Amazon! If you really have to charge extra for international roaming then don’t advertise “free 3G”.

To his credit, David Greenwaymentioned this to me on Twitter a while ago and I didn’t really think much of it at the time (didn’t realise what he was referring to, more like it).